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Monday, November 5, 2007

Wow, these blogging events just seem to all pile up on me! I start off with good intentions and then it's a big rush when I realize how many there are! Now that I have my Sugar High Friday entry up for this month, I decided it was now or never to make my entry into November's Grow Your Own event at Andrea's Recipes, since we've experience our first few frosts and our garden for this year is kaput! So, I turned my attention to the latest thing that was simmering on my stove!

So, with the chills of Winter just around the bend, what could be better than a big old bowl of chili? I had so much random junk sitting in our freezer, fridge and pantry, and it would have been a shame to waste them, so I pulled out the trusty Santoku knife and got chopping.

There was so much stuff, in fact, that I wound up transferring the ingredients partway through the cooking process to a larger pot! In the process of struggling to lift and pour the half-created beast of my imagination (I'm small, and not too athletic!) I said “holy Hell this is a lot of chili!”. Thus the somewhat sacrilegious name of this dish was born, along with enough chili to feed both my Dad and Andrew for the next month or so!

This is an easy enough recipe to veganize by leaving out the ham and switching the beef stock to veggie stock, but like I said I was using up what I had on hand, including all the peppers, carrots, beets, squash and tomatoes - all of which were saved out of the garden from the first frost of the year by a single day! I can't wait to see the round-up (to be posted December 1). It should be great!Holy Hell ChiliMakes 12-15 servings1 tbsp canola oil½ large yellow onion, chopped4 red peppers, chopped2 jalapeno peppers, chopped5 Hungarian wax peppers, chopped10 medium or 5 large carrots, chopped2 beets, peeled and chopped½ small butternut squash, peeled and chopped2 large sweet potatoes, chopped10 plum tomatoes, chopped1 tbsp garlic powder1 tbsp onion powder1 tsp mustard powder2 tbsp oregano1 tbsp basil¼ tsp cayenne powder4 tbsp paprika2 tbsp cumin3 tbsp chili powder¼ lb cooked, cubed ham2 cups cooked chickpeas, drained2 cups cooked butter beans, drained2 cups cooked fava beans, drained2 cups beef stock1 cup red wine2 cups water1 28oz can crushed tomatoes2 cups stewed tomatoes2 cups dry Textured Vegetable Protein

That must have been one fulfilling dish. Am crazy over chili. We have several plants at home. We just throw the seeds on the ground and let them grow. But always the turkeys and chicken beat us to those red hot chilis!